Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-04-06
The Law ON Trial.

The Law ON Trial.
The. Interstate Commerce law has
gone into effect, and is now on trial.
Il is too early yet to speak with assur-
ance of the practical effectthe law will
have upon the commerce of the coun-
try as an entirety; yet it cannot be
denied that people living at competi-
tive points already feel that the law
will work greatly to their disadvan-
tage. The schedule of rates adopted
by the com panies between terminal
points at the East and here has added
materially to the cost of freight; SO
that the Inauguration of the new law
is accompanied by an increase in the
cost of goods of every description
imported from the East. In Los An
geles many of the merchants at once
marked up their goods from 10 to 10
per cent, and some as high astwenty
per cent. We will give one example:
Carpets that before sold for $l.35 per
yard are raised to $3.50. Stoves,
hardware, furniture, paper, etc., have
all been marked up from l5 to 20 per
cent. We cannot say that this great
advance is justified by the increase in
the freight tariff. If, however, it is
not, it will soon rectify itself, for COM
petition in trade will speedily bring
prices down to the exact differ
ence that the increased railroad
tariff has created. But the main
principle of the Interstate Com
merce law will necessarily compel a
higher range Of prices upon goods i'm
ported from the East to competitive
points in California than ruled here
tofore. This is inevitable from the
fact that the companies are interdict-
ed from charging more for short
haul than long haul. This at once
wipes out the advantages possessed
by competitive points, and places
Tucson upon an equal footing with
Los Angeles, aId Reno in as advan-
tageous situation as San Francisco.
One result will flow from this ignor-
ing of the natural advantages of Los
Angeles and San Francisco. It will
cause the merchants of those cities to
resort to their natural advantages,
and instead of bringing any but the
lightest and costliest goods by rail,
they will import the great bulk of their
heavy merchandise by sea, either
via Cape Horn or the Isthmus. What
will the railroads do in the end, when |
commerce to very great extent re-
turns to its old channels? The law
will not permit them to lower their
rates in favor of the competitive
points, and yet they must earn
enough to keep up their roads and
make them pay. Hence the tendency
will inevitably be to advance rates
upon all goods that must necessarily
have dispatch, and upon all
classes of freights that are
perishable. This policy is one
which the Interstate Commerce law
may force upon the railroads, and
the effect of it would be incalculably
injurious to California. We can see
q small speck of good that the law
might work out in the distant future.
If itresult in tariffs so high that ar
ticles of necessity cannot be imported
from the Atlantic without being
greatly enhanced In value, then we
shall be thrown upon our own re-
sources and forced to become a manu-
featuring State. Our deciduous fruits |
will be canned, our oranges will be
made into preserves or expressed and
distilled into liqueurs, and our grapes
turned altogether into raisins and
wines. But we do not pretend to
say that the railroad tariffs will be,
of necessity, so greatly increased as
to cause an industrial revolution.
With the law or without the law, the
railroads will have to compete with
the ocean highway, for as soon as
they feel the injurious effect + this
competition they will be compelled
to fiatten down their rates to hold
the traffic of competitive points.